Chapter 23 – Chapter 25

Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23

1 Woe to the pastors who destroy and scatter The flock of my pastures! saith Jehovah;

2 Therefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Concerning the pastors who feed my people, — Ye have scattered my flock and driven them away, And ye have not visited them; Behold, I will visit upon you The wickedness of your doings, saith Jehovah:

3 But I will gather the remnant of my sheep From all the lands to which I shall drive them, And cause them to return to their own folds, And they shall become fruitful and multiply;

4 And I will raise up over them pastors Who shall feed them; And they shall no more fear nor dread, Nor shall they fail, saith Jehovah.

5 Behold, the days are coming, saith Jehovah, That I will raise up to David a righteous branch, And reign shall a king, And prudently shall he act; He will do judgment and justice in the land.

6 In his days saved shall be Judah, And Israel shall dwell in confidence: And this is the name by which they shall call him, Jehovah Our Righteousness

7 Therefore, behold, the days will come, saith Jehovah, In which it shall no more be said, “Live does Jehovah,” Who brought the children of Israel from the land of Egypt;

8 But rather, “Live does Jehovah,” who has brought up And led the seed of the house of Israel From the land of the north, and all the lands To which I had driven them; And they shall dwell in their own land.

9 On account of the prophets, Broken is my heart within me, Disjointed are all my bones; I am become like a drunken man Who has been overcome by wine, On account of Jehovah, And on account of the words of his holiness;

10 For with adulterers the land is filled: For on account of perjury mourned has the land, Dried up have the pastures of the desert; And their course has been evil, And their strength not right.

11 For both prophet and priest have acted wickedly; Even in my house have I found Their wickedness, saith Jehovah.

12 Therefore their way shall be to them slippery; In darkness shall they stumble and fall therein; For I shall bring on them evil, The year of their visitation, saith Jehovah.

13 In the prophets of Samaria have I seen fatuity, They prophesied by Baal, And made my people Israel to go astray:

14 But in the prophets of Jerusalem Have I seen depravity; By adultery and walking in falsehood They even strengthen the hands of the wicked, That they may not turn, each from his wickedness: They shall be all to me as Sodom, And its inhabitants as Gomorrah.

15 Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts Concerning these prophets, — I will feed them with a deadly poison, And give them waters of gall to drink; For from the prophets of Jerusalem Has gone forth impiety through all the laud.

16 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, — Hear ye not the words of the prophets Who prophesy to you; They make you to be vain; A vision of their own heart do they speak, And not from the mouth of Jehovah;

17 Who say to those who despise me, Spoken has Jehovah, “Peace shall be to you;” And to all who walk in the wickedness of their own hearts They say, “Come upon you shall not evil;

18 For who hath been in the counsel of Jehovah, And seen and heard his word? Who hath listened to his word and heard it?”

19 Behold the whirlwind of Jehovah! With fury it goeth forth; Even the impending whirlwind; On the head of the ungodly shall it fall:

20 Turn back shall not the anger of Jehovah Till he has done and confirmed The thoughts of his own heart: In the extremity of days Ye shall fully understand this.

21 I sent not the prophets, yet they have run; I spoke not to them, yet they have prophesied.

22 But if they had stood in my counsel, Surely they would have made my people hear my words, And turned them from their evil way, And from the wickedness of their doings?

23 Am I a God at hand, saith Jehovah, And not a God afar off?

24 Can a man hide himself in coverts That I could not see him? saith Jehovah; Do not I fill the heavens and the earth? saith Jehovah.

25 I have heard what the prophets say Who prophesy falsely in my name, Saying, “I have dreamed, I have dreamed.”

26 How long will it be in the heart of the prophets To prophesy falsehood, Yea, of the prophets of the deceit of their own heart!

27 Who think to make my people forget My name by their own dreams, Which they relate, each to his friend, As forgotten my name have their fathers through Baal.

28 The prophet who hath a dream, He will relate a dream; And he with whom is my word, He will speak my word of truth: What is the chaff to the wheat? saith Jehovah.

29 Is not my word like fire? saith Jehovah, And like the hammer that breaks the stone?

30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith Jehovah, Who steal my words, each from his friend:

31 Behold, I am against the prophets, saith Jehovah, Who elevate their own tongue, And say, “It is the word:”

32 Behold, I am against those Who prophesy false dreams, saith Jehovah; And who relate them, and deceive my people By their lies and their levity, Though I sent them not, nor commanded them: And they will not profit this people, saith Jehovah.

33 But if ask thee will this people, Or a prophet, or a priest, saying, “What is the burden of Jehovah?” Then shalt thou say to them, “What burden? — I will forsake you, saith Jehovah.”

34 And the prophet, and the priest, and the people, Who shall say, “The burden of Jehovah,” I will even punish that man and his house.

35 Thus shall ye say, every one to his friend, And every one to his brother, “What has Jehovah answered?” Or “What has Jehovah spoken?”

36 But the burden of Jehovah mention no more; For the burden of each shall be his word: For ye have corrupted the words of the living God, Of Jehovah of hosts, our God.

37 Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, — “What has Jehovah answered thee?” Or “What has Jehovah spoken?”

38 But if ye will say, “The burden of Jehovah;” Therefore Jehovah saith thus, — Because ye say, “The burden of Jehovah,” Though I sent to you, saying, Ye shall not say, “The burden of Jehovah.”

39 Therefore, behold, I will wholly take you away, And will cast you off, and this city Which I gave to you and to your fathers, From my presence; And I will bring upon you a perpetual reproach, And a perpetual disgrace, Which shall not be forgotten.

Chapter 24

CHAPTER 24

1 Jehovah shewed me a vision, and, behold, two baskets of figs set before the Temple of Jehovah, after Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim the king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, and the artificer, and the engraver, from Jerusalem, and led them away to Babylon:

2 One basket of figs very good, like early figs, and another basket of figs very bad, which could not be eaten, being so bad.

3 And Jehovah said to me, “What seest thou, Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs, good figs, very good; and bad, very bad, which cannot be eaten, being so bad.”

4 And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,

5 Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, As these good figs, so will I acknowledge the captivity of Judah, which I sent from this place to the land of the Chaldeans, for good:

6 And I will set my eye upon them for good, and will restore them to this land; and I will build them up and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up;

7 And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am Jehovah; and they shall be to me a people, and I will be to them a God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.

8 But as to the bad figs, which cannot be eaten, being so bad, surely thus saith Jehovah, so will I render Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue at Jerusalem, those who remain in this land and those who dwell in the land of Egypt;

9 And I will set them for a commotion, for an evil to all kingdoms of the earth, for a reproach, and a terror, and a taunt, and a curse in all places where I shall drive them;

10 And I will send among them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, until they be consumed from the face of the land which I gave to them and to their fathers.

Chapter 25

CHAPTER 25

1 The word which came by Jeremiah to all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah the king of Judah, (this was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon,)

2 Which Jeremiah the prophet spake to all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, —

3 From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon the king of Judah, to this day, (this is the twenty-third year,) hath Jehovah spoken to me, and I have spoken to you, rising up early, but ye have not hearkened:

4 And Jehovah sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising up early and sending, (but ye hearkened not, nor inclined your ear to hear,)

5 Saying, — Return ye, I pray, each from his evil way, And from the wickedness of your doings, And dwell in the land which Jehovah gave To you and to your fathers from age to age:

6 And walk ye not after alien gods, To serve them and to bow down before them; And provoke me not by the work of your hands, And I will not do you evil.

7 But ye hearkened not to me, saith Jehovah; For ye provoked me by the work of your hands, To do evil to you.

8 Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, — Because ye have not hearkened to my words,

9 Behold, I will send for and take All the families of the north, saith Jehovah, And Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; And I will bring them to this land And to its inhabitants, And to all these nations around; And I will destroy them, And make them an astonishment, And a hissing, and perpetual desolations;

10 And I will cause to cease among them The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, The voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, The sound of millstones, and the light of the candle.

11 And this whole land shall be a waste and a wonder; And serve shall these nations The king of Babylon seventy years.

12 And it shall be, when fulfilled shall be seventy years, That I shall visit on the king of Babylon, And on his people, saith Jehovah, Their iniquity, — and upon the land of Chaldea, And I will make it perpetual desolations:

13 And I will bring on that land all my words, Which I have spoken concerning it, All that is written in this book, Which Jeremiah has prophesied of the nations:

14 For they shall rule over strong nations, And over mighty kings; And I will render to these according to their doing, And according to the work of their hands.

15 For thus said Jehovah, the God of Israel, to me, Take the cup of the wine of this wrath from my hand, and give it to drink to all the nations to whom I shall send thee,

16 That they may drink and be incensed, and become distracted on account of the sword which I shall send among them.

17 And I took the cup from the hand of Jehovah, and gave it to drink to all the nations to whom Jehovah had sent me, —

18 To Jerusalem and to the cities of Judah, even to its kings and to its princes, to make them a waste, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a curse, as at this day, —

19 To Pharaoh the king of Egypt, to his servants, and to his princes, and to all his people,

20 And to the promiscuous multitude, and to all the kings of the land of Uz, and to all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and to Askelon, and to Gaza, and to Ekron, and to the remnant of Ashdod, —

21 To Edom, and to Moab, and to the children of Ammon,

22 And to all the kings of Tyre, and to all the kings of Sidon, and to all the kings of the island beyond the sea,

23 And to Dedan, and to Tema, and to Buz, and to all the extreme ones in a corner,

24 And to all the kings of Arabia, and to all the kings of the mingled race who dwell in the desert,

25 And to all the kings of Zimri, and to all the kings of Elam, and to all the kings of the Medes,

26 And to all the kings of the north, those who are near, as well as those who are afar off, every one shall be against his brother, — and to all kingdoms of the earth, which are upon the face of the earth; and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.

27 And thou shalt say to them, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Drink ye and be drunken, and vomit and fall, and rise not on account of the sword which I send among you.

28 And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup from thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say to them, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Drinking ye shall drink;

29 For behold, upon the city on which my name is called, I begin to bring evil, and shall ye be treated as innocent? ye shall not be treated as innocent; for I am calling for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth, saith Jehovah.

30 Thou shalt also prophesy to them all these words, and say to them, — Jehovah from on high shall roar, And from his holy habitation utter his voice; Roaring he shall roar on his dwelling, A shout like that of vintagers shall he respond Against all the inhabitants of the earth:

31 Reach shall the sound to the extremity of the earth, For a contention has Jehovah with the nations, A dispute has he with all flesh; The wicked will he give to the sword, saith Jehovah.

32 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, — Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, And a great tempest shall be raised From the extremities of the earth;

33 And the slain of Jehovah in that day shall be From one end to the other end of the earth: They shall not be lamented, nor gathered, nor buried; As dung on the face of the earth shall they be.

34 Howl, ye pastors, and cry, And roll [in the dust,] ye choice of the flock; For fulfilled are your days For the slaughter and your breakings; And ye shall fall like a precious vessel:

35 And perish shall flight from the pastors, And escape from the choice of the flock.

36 The voice of the cry of the pastors! And the howling of the choice of the flock! For destroyed has Jehovah their pastures;

37 Perished also are the peaceful tents, Through the indignation of the wrath of Jehovah.

38 He has left, as a lion, his tabernacle; For reduced is their land to a waste Through the wrath of the Oppressor, And through the indignation of his wrath.